OPEN CALL: Szombathely Mural Workshop 2025

Bloomsday, Szombathely has an ongoing, annual artistic programme and will present its new iteration in June 2025. In June 2024, artist Mark Joyce presented his painting in the city of Szombathely to warm acclaim. We are delighted to announce that the fourth iteration of this project will take place in 2025 and the partners wish to invite applications from artists based in Ireland to take part.

The Bloomsday project attempts to map the various references to Leopold Bloom (the protagonist of James Joyce’s novel Ulysses) in the city of Szombathely, Hungary. According to the book, Bloom’s father, Rudolf Virág, is from the city. This reference has given rise to a number of cultural projects that draw on this fictional history and try to enact real-world connections: to Ireland and to the artistic legacies of the 20th century avant garde. The proposed artwork should be inspired by episode 10 of Ulysses and applications are not expected to be illustrative of the novel but to engage with its formal and narrative experimentation.

We would ask artists to submit a 300 word, developed proposal, a CV/bio and 5 images (at least 1 of which is of previous work and at least 1 of which relates directly to the proposal). Links to video or audio submissions are welcome (2 mins max). All materials should be gathered into a single PDF document.

As outlined above, the artwork should be inspired by episode 10 of Ulysses.

For more details on the 2024 edition of the project please see here.

For more details on the 2023 edition of the project please see here.

For more details on the 2022 edition of the project please see here.

The fee for the project will be €2500, along with materials, travel, accommodation and per diem. Artists should be available to travel to Szombathely, Hungary between 1-17 June for the installation and opening of the artwork.

Noon, Friday 10 January, 2025.

Final decisions will be communicated by Friday 7 February 2025.

The applications will be shortlisted by Project Arts Centre’s Artistic Director and Curator of Visual Arts. Final selection will be made by representatives from each of the project partners.

Please submit your application by email to submissions@projectartscentre.ie (we will accept Dropbox or WeTransfer links). You can also send any questions and queries to this email address.

The partners welcome applications from all artists working in visual forms but would like to encourage applications by artists from a diversity of national, ethnic or cultural groups (including, but not limited to Asian, Black, Traveller and minority ethnic, refugees, people with disabilities, working-class and LGBTQI+ artists). We are committed to accessibility and want to make sure that our opportunities are accessible to all artists. If any additional supports are required to enable you to take up this opportunity, please include the details in your application. We will work with you to see how we can help remove any barriers, within a limited budget.

Please note: The size of the available wall is maximum 7m X 6m. The location of the mural is just opposite the City Gallery: Thököly utca 30., Szombathely. An image of the site for the 2025 mural is available here.